Mothers and Daughters
by a-big-apple
Summary: Washu's past comes back to haunt her when Kagato's female half, trapped in Noike, tries to take over. She must face her old demons and rely on all of Tenchi and Ryoko's strength to defeat Kagato for good. Based in OVAs 1-3 & True Tenchi Novels.
1. Chapter 1: Birth Day

Hello, readers! Welcome to another of my Tenchi stories. I don't usually like to post chapters before the story is finished, but I decided that this time I'd go for it—so here's the first installment! I don't have a lot of time to write creatively, and the time I do have is split up among a number of projects both original and not, so don't expect updates to happen super-frequently…but I think just knowing that there might be one or two people waiting for the next chapter will push me along.

So here, without further ado, is the story. It's set in the OVA universe, including OVA three, which I loved and hated by turns…so you will see Noike and also Seto in this story, but not Tennyo or Airi, and very little Tokimi. It takes place, chronologically, in between OVA three and GXP. I also drew on a lot of the non-anime back story stuff for this, like the True Tenchi novels, particularly Washu's. If you don't know what those are, you might want to do a little pre-reading before tackling this story—I make a lot of suppositions about Washu's past based on them, and Naja, a main character in that novel, features heavily in this story. You can find English language summaries of them at .com/tatsumingo/world/world_e dot html (sorry for the weird format of that, but FFN files automatically blank out email addresses and website URLs), or get more info on them at www dot astronerdboy dot com /tenchi/.

I also drew inspiration from a cute and intriguing little comic from Kajishima Onsen 5.12 and 6.08. It's in Japanese, but it's also almost entirely wordless, and there were a few katakana I could read, so thankfully I have a pretty good idea of what's going on; the plot is basically that Ryo-ohki (in little girl form) calls Washu "mama," and Washu is so delighted by this that she decides to turn surly and un-daughterly Ryoko into a little girl, too. So she does, and maniacally forces Ryoko to call her "mama." When Ryoko does, though, Washu has a flashback of two little children with the telltale Hakubi spiky hair, which then cuts to an image of Washu and Naja in their academy uniforms standing by what I've taken for a gravestone or cenotaph. This flashback clearly upsets Washu, who pulls little Ryoko into a tight embrace, crying. She quickly recovers her usual composure and the tale ends on a happy note, but that quick flash of two children and a grave made me wonder. If you're interested in seeing the whole thing, or would like to take a crack at translating the few bits of Japanese that I couldn't read, let me know! ;)

Anyway…that was an extremely long intro, but I wanted you readers to have the same information that I did when I came up with the plot, so that you can get the most out of the story. Reviews, constructive criticism and questions are always welcomed. Enjoy!

~o~o~o~

Chapter One – Birth Day

_She wakes before the sun, confused; her dreams were strange, and her hair sticks to her neck and back in limp clumps. Slowly the fog of sleep begins to fade, and she turns gingerly over. Her husband is still asleep, his blonde curls clinging around his face. She smiles, watching him until the pressing call of nature urges her out of bed._

_She stands awkwardly and half waddles to the bathroom, her hands moving absently over the stretched skin of her belly. _The baby is waking too_, she thinks, feeling it shift, but it isn't until her bladder has been satisfied that she registers the low throb of discomfort in the background of her body. She presses her hands into the curve of her aching back and smiles at herself in the mirror, a small, secret, nervous smile. "So, then, is today the day?"_

"_The day for what, Washu-chan?" She turns. Mikamo stands framed in the bathroom doorway, naked and still half asleep. She chuckles to herself, and he smiles lopsidedly. "Washu?"_

"Miss Washu?"

A light flickered on above her, and the scientist jumped, blinking confusedly. "What?"

"Oh…Miss Washu, I'm sorry to disturb you…."

Frowning, Washu straightened; the desk in front of her was littered with bits and pieces of the project she'd been working on…_was that last night?_ Still pulling her consciousness out of the dream, she lay a hand across her stomach—it was flat, slender. The dream had been just that.

She glanced over at the doorway and called up a tired smile for Aeka, who stood there hesitantly. "Come on in, Aeka. I must've dozed off."

The princess took a step into the lab, letting the door swing shut and vanish behind her. "Were you up all night working again? You've missed a few meals, Noike insisted that I come and get you for lunch."

"Well, I guess I do get a little caught up in my work," Washu admitted, smiling. "And I could use some food, that's for sure."

Aeka smiled. "I also wanted to remind you that we're having a little surprise party for Mihoshi this evening, it's her birthday. I know you're busy with your inventions, but I'm sure she'd be delighted if you'd join us for cake."

"Oh…Mihoshi's birthday?" Washu sat back in her chair. "No wonder…"

"No wonder what, Washu?"

The scientist shook her head, smiling solemnly to herself. "Nothing. Let's go eat, shall we, Princess?" Washu stood, shaking off the last vestiges of the dream with a toss of her hair, and put on a brave face for the riotous residents of the Masaki household.

~o~o~o~

Lunch was the usual chaotic affair; even Katsuhito had come down from the shrine to join them, so there was barely room at the table for everyone's jabbing elbows and reaching chopsticks. Washu ate little and without her usual gusto, but to her relief nobody seemed to notice; she thanked the heavens, for probably the ten thousandth time, that her link with her daughter only went one way unless Washu was trying to get her attention. Ryoko was in fine form today, crass and energetic, and the scientist was glad of the distraction.

Of course, Mihoshi alone was enough to keep attention off Washu; everything the young detective said caused a volley of furtive glances and stifled giggles around the table. It seemed to the scientist, and probably to everyone else, that the woman had forgotten her own birthday—it would make the surprise that much better.

"Noike, Washu, would you help me with the dishes?" Sasami asked when lunch was over, and the family began to dissipate.

On most occasions, Washu would find a reason to be elsewhere—she didn't mind cooking once in a while, but dishes were not her cup of tea—but today Sasami's eyes betrayed her real purpose. _Some party prep, huh?_ Washu thought to herself, and smiled. "No problem, Sasami-chan."

"Thank you, Washu-sensei," Noike murmured as the three of them carried piles of dishes to the kitchen. "We wanted some help with the cake, and, well…"

"Noike, I've told you many times, just call me Washu." She winked. "I may be a retired professor and a goddess in disguise, but I detest formality."

"Nor are you the only goddess in disguise, oneechan," Tsunami pointed out, flickering into being as Sasami turned from the sink, and flickering away just as quickly. Washu chuckled at Noike's startled expression, and brought the subject back around to baking.

"At any rate, I don't think I could concentrate on my work today, so I don't mind helping—I know Ryoko and Aeka can't be trusted near an oven."

Sasami sighed. "That's the truth. I was also wondering…do you think you could put up a little forcefield, or something, to keep Mihoshi out?"

Washu grimaced. "I could give it a try, but sometimes I think the harder I work to keep her away from things, the easier time she has getting past my measures. She's probably going to be sleeping off lunch for most of the afternoon—why don't we just take our chances?"

"Well, you know best, Washu-chan!" Sasami grinned, but shot her a gentle glance when Noike wasn't looking.

Washu sent a little half-smile back. _Sasami knows, from Tsunami_, she thought_. I guess I'm not the only one who remembers dates_.

Between the three of them the baking went on without a hitch, and Washu found herself getting caught up in the process of it—the underlying chemical principles were transparent to her, of course, so much so that she could produce food just by programming her computer with the proper formulas, but the step-by-step act of baking was much more novel. Sasami and Noike took so much joy in it that, after a while, the scientist started to forget the science and relax into the rhythm of icing the cake's many layers as they came out of the oven. It was Sasami who put on the finishing touches, piping little rosettes everywhere and writing "Happy Birthday Mihoshi!" on the top. The three stood back to admire their handiwork, their hair and faces dotted with sugar and flour and icing.

"All right!" Sasami grinned, hands on her hips. "It looks great! Now we just have to make a super-special delicious dinner!"

Washu chuckled, looking down at herself. "Well, if you girls can handle that part yourselves, I think I'm going to take a bath."

"All right. We'll send someone to get you when the food's ready."

"Great."

~o~o~o~

The onsen was empty for once, and Washu scrubbed herself clean with her mind wandering elsewhere, then slipped into the hot water with a grateful sigh. The restful quiet and the heat lulled her for a while, not really to sleep, but into a blank, clear state of mind that her scientific training and curiosity didn't often allow. Images flickered slowly behind her eyes and she let them come; scenes of her life since escaping from the Souja, and scenes longer ago, of laughing faces and tiny hands enclosed in her own….

"Mya ma?"

Washu's eyes fluttered open to find Ryo-ohki in child form, holding out her arms to be helped into the water, her dress in a heap by the side of the bath. "Oh…."

"Mama?" The little girl cocked her head, her ears flopping.

"Of course, sweetheart…" Washu pulled the child down onto her lap, and Ryo-ohki grinned at her and snuggled comfortably against her chest.

"Mya ma."

Washu chuckled softly and kissed her hair. "What a sweet thing you are, Ryo-chan. You know, I'm glad you assimilated so successfully with the Masu. It does us all good to have a little one around the house."

"Mya?" The little girl looked up at her mother, then frowned, and lay a tiny hand against Washu's cheek. "Mya mya mya."

"What?" Washu covered the girl's hand with her own, startled. "Oh…I didn't even realize I was. It's all right, Ryo-chan. Nothing's wrong."

Ryo-ohki solemnly wiped the tears from Washu's face, then smiled. "Mya!"

"Yes," the scientist murmured softly. "Yes, everything's all right."

~o~o~o~

_The room is filled with people, the smiling faces of her family and the smell of home-cooked food. She has a candy her cousin made stuffed in her mouth, a sugary, creamy treat on a wooden stick that she sucks on with gusto. Her little brother holds tightly to her hand as they wander through the room, his eyes wide and mischievous, and he stops chewing his own candy long enough to ask what they are looking for._

"_Great Grandpa," she replies, tugging him happily between the legs of adults, until she spies the old man seated in the best chair with a party crown perched in his whitened curls._

"_Mihoshi-chan!" he cries when he sees her. "Come sit on my lap, it's almost time to open our presents!"_

"_Me too?" her brother asks, and she looks at Great Grandpa with a pleading expression._

"_Of course, Misao-chan. Come, and I'll tell you a story while we wait for present time." The old man lifts the tiny children onto his knees, wrapping his arms around them. "Have I ever told you the story of the Lady in the Snow?"_

"_No!" they chorus together, eager and smiling._

"_Well, when I was just a boy, only a little older than you are, Mihoshi, we had a sudden snowstorm the night before my birthday."_

"_My birthday too!" Mihoshi cries happily, and Great Grandfather chuckled._

"_You weren't born yet, little one, but yes. I was in your Great Grandmother's room—she was my half-sister, you know—and we watched the snow fall through the window. She was sick that winter, and she turned away to cough; just as she turned, out of the corner of my eye I saw a face, a person outside. When I looked again, the face was gone."_

"_Oh!" The children's eyes widen in suspense, and Great Grandfather smiles._

"_The next day, I went outside to play in the new snow in the yard; it was still falling, and suddenly the wind picked up and blew the snow all around me like a fog. A figure appeared, snow flying around her; she was dressed in black and had hair the color of a Jurai sunset—"_

"_What does that look like, Great Grandfather?"_

"_Oh…well…it looks almost like…well…" He grabs a fruit from the table behind him, and takes a bite. "It looks pink and red like the inside of this plum."_

"_Wow!" Mihoshi takes the plum and bites into it, letting the juice dribble down her chin._

"_What was most striking about the Lady, though, were her eyes. They were not like your eyes, or Misao's. They were green."_

"_Like yours, Great Grandfather!" Misao observes, and Mihoshi blinks._

"_Wow, you're right Misao! Then what happened?"_

"_Well, the Lady stepped close to me. She bent down, and I could see in her eyes that I didn't have to be afraid. 'Hello, little one,' she said."_

"_And then what?"_

"_Well, Mihoshi…"_

"_Mihoshi!"_

"Mihoshi! It's time for dinner!" The detective blinked, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Someone was calling her—something about…dinner? "Mihoshi!"

"Oh, uh, I'm up here Sasami!" she called, coming to the door of the bedroom the girls all shared. "I think I fell asleep! Did you say it's time to eat?"

Sasami appeared at the bottom of the stairs, grinning. "I did! Come on down, Mihoshi, we're all waiting for you!"

"Oh my! I'll be right there!" The detective ran a hand over her hair to smooth it, and hurried down the stairs to the table. "It's a good thing it's time to eat, I'm getting hungry." She twirled excitedly around at the bottom of the stairs, grinning ear to ear. "It smells delicious!"

"SURPRISE!!!"

"Waahh!!" Mihoshi was knocked off her feet by the enthusiasm, or perhaps by some surge of power from the already-tipsy Ryoko, and Aeka rose to help her upright.

"Happy birthday, Mihoshi!" the princess grinned, leading the bewildered detective over to the table. There were plates upon plates of her favorite dishes, and in the middle, a giant cake with her name written on it. Mihoshi's eyes filled, and she gave the gathered family a watery smile.

"I guess I forgot about it…thank you so much, all of you, this is…well, it's just…" The detective bit her lip, then burst into delighted tears. There were chuckles around the table, and Aeka took Mihoshi's arm, drawing her over into the celebration.

"Now, now…come sit down and have dinner."

"And some sake!" Ryoko added, downing another saucer with a pleased expression.

"And blow out the candles, before the whole place burns down," Washu muttered wryly. In her lap, Ryo-ohki clapped her hands delightedly at the prospect of candle-blowing.

Mihoshi dried her eyes on her sleeve, smiling happily, and was about to sit, when something that had been nagging at her brain finally clicked. "Oh! Oh no! I almost forgot! I'm sorry, everyone, wait here just a minute!" She raced back up the stairs, and from the table, the others could hear her tearing about in the shared bedroom.

"Oh, she's making a mess again," Noike groaned.

Muffled through the walls, they could hear her talking to herself, until finally she shouted something unintelligible in triumph and galloped back down to join the party. She was clutching a small square frame in her hand, and she set it on the table next to the cake, smiling somberly.

"Who's that, Mihoshi?" Ryoko asked, peering at the picture.

"My great grandfather…it would've been his birthday today, too. When I was little, we always used to have our parties together, and he'd tell us stories…ever since he died, I always keep his picture out when our birthday comes around, to celebrate with him."

"That's really sweet, Mihoshi."

"You don't look much like him—where did he get those green eyes? I thought the Kuramitsu family all had blue eyes, like yours."

Mihoshi sat, folding her legs beneath her. "Well, nobody really knows who his mother was, but there was a rumor that she wasn't Seniwan at all, she was from another planet. Someone his father knew before he married my great-great grandmother. Remember the story I told you guys that time, about the Lady in the Snow? Misao and I always thought the Lady must've been Great-Grandfather's real mother."

"Come on, everyone, dig in," Sasami interrupted. "I'll cut slices of cake for everybody, too!" As the usual chaos of chopsticks and conversation erupted around the table, the young princess carefully cut the cake and passed the slices around. "Six, seven, eight! That should be everyone…hey, wait a minute, where'd Washu go?"

Ryoko gulped a fresh saucer of sake, reaching across the table to take the eighth slice of cake. "She probably had to go stir something in her lab. Don't worry, I'll be happy to eat her piece for her."

"Ryoko…"

"You're such a pig, Ryoko, why can't you ever eat like a lady?"

"Oh, you mean like you, Miss Ten-Cucumber-Rolls-in-Thirty-Seconds over there?"

"Ooooh, you…!"

"Aeka, Ryoko, please…."

~o~o~o~

_The room is not one she knows; a large bed is tucked beneath bay windows on the far side, and Ryoko crosses the room to get a look through the glass. Before she reaches it she pulls up short, distracted by a cradle at the foot of the bed. The child in the cradle is asleep; he has an angelic face, she thinks, with pale skin and a mass of blonde curls. Ryoko leans down to look more closely, and the child shifts, opens his eyes. They are bright green and curious, and he lifts his chubby arms to be held. Ryoko isn't sure why she does, but she picks him up and sets him on her hip; he feels right there, comfortable. She steps over to the window, pushes back the heavy curtains. It's night outside, but not really dark; spreading out beneath her is a metropolis of buildings, lit and active, and crowds of people as tiny as ants walking this way and that. She still doesn't recognize the locale, but when she looks more closely, she can see that everyone below is wearing a uniform—a surprisingly familiar uniform. _The Science Academy?_ she thinks to herself, surprised. _Why on Earth would I dream about— _ Then her body's reflection in the window catches her eye; something doesn't look right. Her gaze rises up her body to her face, and she steps back, startled. It isn't her face there, but her mother's._

Ryoko woke with a start, looking around. She was home, on her rafter. _Weird_, she thought, but was too tired to consider it any more than that, and closed her eyes again. She was near to sleep when she heard the lab door open below her, and the quiet footsteps of her mother slipping out into the living room. She was used to Washu coming and going at all sorts of hours, the woman hardly slept, but the strangeness of the dream made her more alert. She opened the link between them just a trickle, and sent a sleepy, wordless question through.

She heard Washu freeze, then sigh. She got a wordless reply in return, a strong desire for privacy, but it had a flavor of sorrow that brought Ryoko further out of her sleep. She twisted, looking down at Washu.

"Please, Ryoko. Go back to bed."

The pirate snorted softly—Washu should know better than to think she would sleep now—and the scientist sighed again, then knelt heavily by the table and pushed aside the mess of sake saucers and leftover pieces of cake from the celebration earlier that evening. Silent, she lay her head down on her arms with her face turned away.

_What the heck?_ Ryoko watched her for a while, confused, until a quiet hitching of breath prodded her to investigate. She vanished and reappeared sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the smaller woman, peering into her face. She was shocked to find her mother's cheeks and arms damp with tears. Green eyes shifted over to meet Ryoko's, unreadable, then shifted away again; the pirate followed their gaze, baffled, to the photo of Mihoshi's great grandfather that still stood propped up on the table. "What—"

"Please don't, Ryoko," Washu murmured, her voice thick and pleading.

Ryoko frowned, for once taking no offense, and let an awkward moment pass. Then she gingerly lay a hand against the other woman's back. _Mom?_

Washu's eyes flinched closed in pain and then opened again. _My son, little Ryoko._

_Your…. _ The pirate looked at the picture again, more keenly, and saw it where she hadn't before—the green eyes were just the same, their lively, intelligent sparkle, and she remembered the dream, letting out a breath. "Oh."

Perhaps it was something about the quiet intimacy of night-time, when nobody else was awake to see; perhaps it was the naked sorrow in Washu's face, or the strange dream that Ryoko now understood must have been projected through their link. Whatever the reason, the pirate let her usual façade slip aside and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, pulling her close.

Washu stiffened, caught off-guard, but her resistance didn't last long; with surprising strength she gripped Ryoko back, muffling her sobs in the pirate's broad shoulder. They stayed that way for a long time, Washu curled and shaking in her childlike body, Ryoko stroking her hair and her back, rocking her absently. Slowly the older woman's frame loosened, limp and exhausted, and Ryoko rested her chin on top of her mother's head.

"So…does this mean that I'm _related_ to _Mihoshi_?"

Washu gave an undignified little snort, then sighed softly. "Nearly twenty thousand years ago today…her great grandfather was the only child I actually gave birth to."

"As opposed to all those other children?"

The scientist hesitated just a fraction of a second. "You…Ryo-ohki." She fell silent; then after a moment she spoke again, her voice quiet but without the pain of before. "I know we're not…exactly the way most mothers and daughters are, Ryoko."

"That's for fucking sure," the pirate agreed, half-smiling.

"When Mikumo was taken away…well, it took many years, but I made my way to him, and I intended to take him back. But he was…he was happy, he had a loving family. So I let well enough alone. I did right by him, the best way I could."

"Then, that story about the Lady in the Snow?"

"Yes. That was me."

"Well, considering everything that happened later, I guess he was better off."

Washu smiled a little, her head still nestled against Ryoko's collarbone. "You don't know the half of it. But with you…when you were taken away from me, Ryoko…."

Ryoko shook her head. "We don't have to talk about this now."

"Please, let me…let me just…." Washu sighed softly. "If I had understood and remembered what I was, back then, I would have ripped dimensions apart to get you back. I live every day wishing I could in good conscience turn back the timeline and keep Kagato away from you."

Ryoko was silent for a moment. "Yosho wouldn't have chased me to Earth; he wouldn't have had a family here. Tenchi wouldn't have been born." She smiled. "Maybe it sounds crazy, but…he's worth it. Being here with him is worth it, and being who I am now." Then she sighed, as though giving in. "And being here with you is worth it, too."

Washu smiled softly. "You've grown up into such a strong woman, Ryoko. I'm proud of you. Thank you, for tonight."

Ryoko snorted. "Don't get used to it." But she made no move to let her mother go.


	2. Chapter 2: Inner Child

Okay, here's bit number two of this crazy story! Chapter 3 is also already written at this point, but I won't upload that until I've finished Chapter 4—just in case I need to make any changes. So the next update won't be for a little while, maybe a week or two.

UPDATE: I made a few small changes to this chapter after re-watching OVA 3 with the subtitles, instead of the dub. I'm going on the assumption that the subtitles are more accurate, and if they are, then it means that the little astral Kagato girl wasn't just stuck into a baby Noike, as I'd thought—according to the subs, she actually IS Noike. She was illegally modified by Clay into a little blue-haired baby who grew up to be Noike, but the modification process split her astral form in two—Noike's astral form, which matches her modified body, and the Kagato astral form, which is the one we see at the end of OVA 3. I'm learning that the more you delve into this series, the weirder it gets. Anyway, as I said when I first posted this bit, Chapter 3 is already written and will be posted as soon as I finish Chapter 4.

~o~o~o~

Chapter Two – Inner Child

"Noike, are you going out to the field today?"

"Yes, I thought I'd give Tenchi a hand, he said yesterday that he was falling a bit behind." Noike poked her head into the kitchen and Sasami grinned, handing her a neatly-wrapped bento.

"Would you bring him his lunch, then? There's lunch in there for you, too."

"Sure. Thanks, Sasami!" Noike tucked the box into the crook of her arm, crossing the living room to get her shoes. She paused, looking up; Ryoko was sprawled on her rafter, a manga in hand, her eyes wide and face flushed. Noike cleared her throat politely. "Ryoko? Do you still want to learn to drive?"

"Huh?" Ryoko jumped, startled, and looked down at Noike. "Uh…sure. Where're we going?"

"Well, I'm headed out to the field…I thought you could watch how I operate the truck on the way there, and teleport back. Or you could help Tenchi and I out there, if you want."

Ryoko considered this, then set her manga aside and phased through the rafter to set down lightly next to her housemate. "Sounds good—how hard could driving be?"

~o~o~o~

"So that other foot pedal is the brake..... I think I get it…but geez, after flying Ryo-ohki, this old truck seems kind of primitive."

"Well, it's a useful skill to have, anyway," Noike admonished as they drove up the narrow path toward the carrot fields. "You never know when you might need it." A moment passed in silence as Ryoko watched Noike's feet and hands studiously; it as Noike who broke the silence.

"Ryoko, is Miss Washu all right?"

The pirate blinked, startled. "What?"

"She seemed…a little upset, yesterday. Do you know if something was wrong?"

Ryoko smiled a little to herself. "You caught that, huh? She was having a rough day, but I think she's all right now."

"I'm glad. I feel…strangely fond of her. She reminds me of my mother, I think, and she was so helpful, with the whole…female Kagato thing."

"Yeah, that was weird…right up her alley," Ryoko agreed. She studied Noike's face, creased into a slight frown, then smiled. "She sort of grows on you."

"Yes, she does."

Ryoko paused, chewing a question over in her mind, formulating it. "So…no problems, with the mini-Kagato? No…urges to make people your slaves, or anything?"

Noike chuckled softly. "I know the history between you and he, Ryoko…I assure you nothing like that is—"

The truck shuddered over a bump in the road; Noike's eyes widened, then closed, and she slumped forward. "Noike? Noike!" Ryoko grabbed the other woman's shoulder, shaking her, then spit a string of curses as the truck swerved off the path. She grabbed the wheel and yanked, barely missing a tree, and the truck bumped heavily down the ditch and into the field on the other side. The pirate stretched her leg over Noike's, jamming her foot down on the brake, and the car jerked to a halt. She fumbled with the keys, turning it roughly off, then lifted Noike's head with one hand; her eyes were closed, her breath slow, and all the blood had drained from her face.

"Noike, wake up!" Ryoko slapped her; nothing. Cursing again, she gathered the other woman into her arms and phased them through the top of the truck, teleporting home.

She reappeared halfway there, gasping and drained, and cursing with every breath. "Now is not the time for some weird gem problem!" she shouted at the air, drawing what power she had left and flying at top speed toward the house. She could see the lake, and then she was crossing it, and for half a moment she thought she wouldn't make it as far as the other side, but she called up a reserve of strength to push herself the rest of the way as Noike's limp weight threatened to bring them both down. "Washu!" she yelled, landing heavily and stumbling at the lake's edge. She let the link with her mother fly open, too drained to formulate a message, but knowing the urgency would get through. "Washu!!"

Aeka poked her head out the door. "Ryoko, what are you— Oh! Noike! What happened?"

"Get Washu," Ryoko grunted, hefting the unconscious woman more securely into her arms, her knees trembling. "I can't carry her much farther."

Aeka nodded and raced inside; by the time Ryoko struggled to the door with her burden, her mother's small frame was there blocking the way, holding out her arms. "Give her to me. Are you all right for the moment?"

Ryoko nodded, handing Noike gingerly over. "She was talking, and then she just passed out."

"No worries—I'll sort it out." With deceptive strength, Washu hurried Noike into the house and down to the lab, the storage unit door clicking shut behind her.

"How distressing," Aeka murmured, her hands flattened against her chest. "I hope she's all right."

The pirate, too drained to stand any longer, dropped to one knee in the doorway. "Something weird's going on," she answered breathlessly, and Aeka turned, startled.

"Ryoko! Are you all right? Come sit down on the couch, I'll get you some water…"

"I'm all right," Ryoko groused, but let the princess help her to the sofa, where she collapsed, boneless. "She just…all of a sudden, Aeka. In the middle of a sentence. And then I tried to teleport her back here and only made it halfway, it felt like…like the power was just sucked right out of me."

Aeka sat lightly beside Ryoko, frowning a little fearfully. "You think the two things are linked?"

"Seems logical." Ryoko closed her eyes for a moment, taking a steadying breath. "Listen, I don't think I can get all the way out to the field again right now…you should go out there and make sure Tenchi's okay. He'll want to know what's going on."

"Yes, of course…." Aeka stood. "Will you be all right? I think Mihoshi and Sasami are both in the onsen, do you want me to get them to stay with you?"

Ryoko waved her off, frowning. "I'm fine. Go, he could be in trouble. And keep your eyes open."

The princess nodded, somber, and took off out the door at a run.

~o~o~o~

Tenchi paused, leaning against the handle of the hoe and wiping an arm across his face. The sun was vicious today; he'd already discarded his shirt, and still had several fields to go. He glanced up, trying to judge the time, and sighed. _It must be almost time for lunch…I wonder what's taking Noike so long? She said she'd come help out in the afternoon, and I bet Sasami's sending food along with her…. Man, I'm starving._

"Myaaaa…"

Tenchi grinned down at Ryo-ohki, who was sprawled out in cabbit form in his shadow, trying to escape the sun. "What do you think, Ryo-chan? It's about time for lunch, right?"

"Mya!" The cabbit's tail wagged happily, and Tenchi laughed.

"I guess I might as well keep working until Noike gets here, though…look out, Ryo-ohki." With a practiced motion, he sank the teeth of the hoe into the soft earth, quickly falling back into the rhythm of his work. The steadiness was meditative, and soon Tenchi found the world around him slipping away, everything focusing in on the hoe and the earth, ready for seeds. _We'll have a good crop from this field, I think. It's amazing how many carrots Ryo-ohki can eat, this will probably last her…oh…a week._

"MRRRAAOW!!"

Tenchi jumped, startled out of his work by the cabbit's cry, and looked down; she was crouched, hackles raised, staring back in the direction of home.

"What is it, Ryo-ohki? Is something wrong?"

"Mraowww!"

Crouching down near her, Tenchi followed her gaze, but saw nothing. "Is something going on with Ryoko?" The cabbit made no reply, just continued to watch the horizon, arched and hissing, and Tenchi lay a hand lightly on her back. "Ryo-ohki?"

At his touch, the little creature calmed and turned to look at him, and Tenchi wished for the thousandth time that he could understand her when she spoke. Then, as though wishing the same thing, the cabbit leapt to his shoulder and nuzzled against his neck and the side of his face, her body trembling a little. He cradled her there, murmuring softly.

"What's got you so worked up, huh? Maybe we should head home and see what's going on." He grabbed the hoe and took his shirt from where it lay crumpled at the edge of the field, clambering up the ditch to the dirt road that led home.

He'd been walking barely a minute or two when he heard his name, and a figure appeared in the distance, racing toward him.

"Tenchi! Lord Tenchi, are you all right?"

He hurried forward as Aeka took shape, breathless and worried. "Aeka! I'm fine, is something wrong?"

"It's Noike," the princess gasped, bending over to catch her breath. "She collapsed on her way out here, Ryoko brought her home. Washu's with her now. Something drained power out of Ryoko's gems, too, and we were worried that you might be in danger…"

"Mya mraoww!"

Tenchi glanced over at the cabbit on his shoulder. "Oh…a little while ago, Ryo-ohki started hissing like crazy, she must've picked up on what was happening."

"We should hurry back, Lord Tenchi…" Aeka straightened and took his hand. "Ryoko wasn't in very good shape when I left her, and I'm nervous to leave the house unprotected when we don't know what's happening…."

"Of course."

~o~o~o~

"Here, Ryoko, maybe you need to eat something."

Sasami, her pigtails still tied up into little balls on top of her head from her earlier bath, set a plate of rice crackers in the pirate's lap and held out a steaming mug of tea with a concerned expression.

"I'm all right, Sasami, really…" Ryoko shot the girl a cavalier smile, but took the plate and the tea anyway, popping a cracker into her mouth. "I'm just a bit drained."

"Do you think Noike's all right?" Mihoshi asked with a watery-eyed look, still wrapped in her bathing towel. "Maybe I should go down there and check—"

"NO WAY," Ryoko shouted, glaring. "You'll break something and hurt her more."

"Why don't you go get dressed, Mihoshi? I'll stay here with Ryoko until you come back," Sasami offered, and flopped onto the couch beside the pirate.

"Oh…okay," Mihoshi replied uncertainly, and hurried back to the onsen to retrieve her clothes.

Ryoko sighed, glad to have the teary detective out of their hair for a few minutes; her mother's revelation the night before had made her reconsider some of her normal impatience toward Mihoshi, but just being related to her didn't make her any less irritating. Ryoko sighed and gulped the tea. "Thanks for the food, Sasami, I do feel a bit better."

The little girl smiled a little and took Ryoko's hand, turning it over to touch the gem in her wrist lightly. "Has something like this ever happened before? I didn't know you could be weakened like that."

"Yes…aboard the Souja, remember? Kagato stole the power from me and Tenchi-ken both."

"Oh…you're right, I remember that now. I was so scared for you, and for Tenchi. But…Kagato's dead. Isn't he?"

Ryoko's eyes narrowed as she glanced down at Sasami, thoughtful. "Well…Tenchi certainly killed him, back then. But he isn't entirely dead."

Sasami's eyes widened. "You mean…Noike?"

Blowing a nervous breath through her nose, Ryoko scowled. "It seems to fit, doesn't it? But let's hope I'm wrong." She glanced behind them at the lab door, hoping that Aeka would return with Tenchi soon. _I wasn't able to kill Kagato myself last time…and Tenchi won't harm Noike. Unless Washu's got some brilliant plan, we may be in for a rough time_.

~o~o~o~

"I wonder what's taking so long," Aeka murmured softly, glancing over at the lab door. Sasami nodded in agreement, pressed against Aeka's side. Perched on the arm of the couch, Mihoshi sniffled.

"We're always waiting around while Washu fixes someone, aren't we..." she said with a watery voice, her hands clenched tightly together in her lap. Tenchi got up from his chair and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Sasami glanced up at Aeka, and at Ryoko on her other side, but neither woman seemed inclined to protest Tenchi's attentions. Surprisingly, Ryoko hardly seemed to even notice; her eyes were fixed on the lab door, her body tight and tense. Sasami reached over and took her hand, and Ryoko squeezed it, her gaze unchanging.

"It does seem that way," Tenchi was answering Mihoshi, "but Washu always manages to make everything right. I'm sure Noike will be fine."

Tense silence fell over the group, broken only by Mihoshi's occasional sniffles; after what seemed like ages, the lab door clicked open and Washu appeared, looking pale and drained. She leaned against the doorframe as all eyes fixed on her, and took a slow breath. "Noike is stable, for the moment. There's nothing physically wrong with her--so I hope for her to come through this just fine."

The bubble of tension in the room popped with an audible sigh as they all let out breaths they didn't know they'd been holding, but Washu held up her hand to still any questions. Ryoko frowned--the scientist hid it well, but her fingers were trembling.

"Unfortunately, we have a rather knotty problem on our hands."

"Kagato," Ryoko murmured, and Washu nodded.

"Yes. It seems my blind spot concerning him is continuing to cause trouble for us."

"So...what happened?" Tenchi asked, brows furrowed.

"The little girl you saved, Tenchi, the female Kagato who became Noike....well, she wasn't just his rejected half." Washu took another shaky breath, then strode over to the table and sat down heavily beside it, facing the group. "Kagato himself was actually a clone—and as such, he always had a fascination with his own mortality, and the process of copying and re-creating life. It seems that when he split himself in half, he made a complete copy of his male astral form, and embedded it in the discarded female side. From what I can tell, he programmed that embedded form to emerge and take over in the event of his physical death, with all his personality and power intact—and of course Noike's body is a prime host. It is, at the genetic level, the same basic body the Kagato we know used to inhabit." She paused a moment to let this sink in, watching as questions flickered across everyone's faces. Ryoko frowned into the silence, watching her mother carefully.

_Are you all right?_

Washu nodded slightly. _I had to tap into my own power to contain him while I modified the proper shielding--it took a lot out of me. How about you?_

_Energy's coming back,_ Ryoko thought. _Slowly, though._

"So," Tenchi began hesitantly, unaware of the silent conversation, "why didn't this happen a long time ago? It's been more than a year since our battle with Kagato...."

"A good question." Washu sighed, her shoulders slumping. "And another mistake on my part. The seal that Clay put on the female Kagato, to prevent her from assimilating fully with Noike, was also preventing the male copy from taking control. I doubt Clay did that on purpose—the male copy was entirely dormant at the time, almost undetectable. Clay was in Tokimi's service then, though, and it may have been her doing. Either way, when the seal was removed, the embedded programming could commence."

"It's not your fault, Washu," Sasami reassured gently, with a hint of Tsunami's resonance in her voice. "You had no reason to think removing the seal would cause trouble."

The scientist shook her head. "I know Kagato inside and out. I should have suspected...but what's done is done, and now I've just got to figure out how to make it right."

"That's going to mean a fight," Ryoko replied, clenching her fists, and Washu nodded.

"Yes. If the shield I patched together to contain Kagato continues to hold, then the next step is to try to separate him from Noike. Once Noike's out of danger, maybe we can…." Pain flashed across Washu's face for just an instant, and Ryoko wouldn't have even noticed it if she didn't sense it through their link, too. "Maybe we can finally destroy him."

"So the shield you made is stable for now?" Tenchi asked, standing.

"Yes, for the moment."

"Then I'm going to run up to the shrine and tell Grandpa what's going on."

Washu nodded. "We may need his help too. And bring Tenchi-ken back with you, all right?"

"Right."

"And we should send a message to Jurai," Sasami said, turning to Aeka.

"Yes," the elder princess agreed. "Grandmother should be informed." Aeka glanced at Washu to confirm this idea; the scientist looked startled, then pained, then her expression settled swiftly back into its usual considering state.

"All right…as soon as she hears she'll want to come see for herself, but I think it would be useful to have her here. She may be able to help me separate Kagato from Noike." Then Washu's eyes narrowed sternly. "But make sure _only _Seto knows what's going on. It would do more harm than good to have the whole Jurai royal family show up on our doorstep with swords raised."

Aeka nodded. "Mihoshi, can we make the call from Yukinojo?"

"Yes, sure thing," the detective replied, jumping to her feet.

"You'd better come along too, Sasami, Grandmother will want to see that you're all right."

"Ok, um…oh, here we go!" Mihoshi pulled her control cube out from her messy ponytail and turned it a few times; a moment later she and the princesses had vanished.

As soon as they were gone, Washu sagged, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees; Ryoko got up and sat next to her, laying a hand on her arm. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Washu nodded. "It takes a lot of effort to use goddess powers without actually transforming, and transforming wreaks all kinds of havoc on dimensional stability."

"Tsunami does it, though, and Tokimi pops up all the time…"

"Yes, that's true. But it's a matter of power." Washu sat up again, some of the color returning to her face, and leaned against Ryoko's side. "They have less power to control, and so they have more freedom to move in this dimension without causing harm."

Ryoko regarded her mother with slightly widened eyes. "So you're…"

"I'm the eldest, and the most completely sealed off from my power." Washu touched her fingertips to Ryoko's wrist, and the gem glowed at the contact. "I gave it up when I took this body, and it costs me to access it again. I'll be all right in a few minutes. And when Tenchi comes back with the sword, we'll fix you up, as well."

The pirate frowned. "I feel all right now."

Washu smiled wanly. "I have no doubt, I made you strong. But we need you to be at the top of your game, if any of this is going to work out. Which means we need Tenchi to give you back the other two gems."

Ryoko stiffened. "No."

"Ryoko…" Washu glanced up at her daughter's unreadable expression. "You and Tenchi are our best defenses."

"What if Kagato takes control of me again? With all three gems…." She broke off, looking frightened. "I could do a lot of damage. I could…." She stopped again, clenching her hands into fists. She felt Washu tapping lightly at their link, and let it open, sending a flood of images through, the destruction she once wrought across the universe, the flames and screaming and death.

_I was with you,_ Washu thought back at her, taking Ryoko's fist in both of her hands. _I was linked with you then, as I am now. He will never do that to you, or I, again._

_You can't know that!_

_I can! I've had plenty of time to go over my mistakes. I know how he does it, he was the one who insisted we have a failsafe in your design. All I have to do is close it down, and he won't be able to access you anymore, not ever. And neither will I. _

"You…you can control me, too?" Ryoko spluttered, surprised.

"Yes, it's physically possible. But it shouldn't be there, that loophole. I never should have agreed to it in the first place." The scientist looked down at her hands, folded around one of Ryoko's. "You were never meant to be controlled. You were meant to live, as everyone else does. You were meant to be our…to be my daughter."

Ryoko blinked. "What did you just—"

"Washu! I brought Grandpa. And the sword!" Tenchi came running in, out of breath, with Katsuhito a few steps behind him looking perfectly serene.

"Perfect timing, as usual. Let's make the exchange."

"Washu…"

"Exchange?"

Washu pointed to the sword's hilt, and the two glittering gems it still held. "I'm not taking no for an answer. This has to be done." She looked sharply at Ryoko, who scowled, but said nothing, then over at Katsuhito, who nodded imperceptibly in agreement. Finally she regarded Tenchi with somber eyes. "It's time to give my daughter back what's hers."

~o~o~o~

Mihoshi squealed, hitting a few buttons randomly. "Oh, why isn't it working? I just made a report yesterday, I know the comm system should be fine! Yukinojo!"

The ship's robotic face descended from the ceiling with what Aeka could have sworn was a long-suffering sigh, and turned itself upright. "Allow me, Mihoshi-dono. Who are you attempting to contact?"

"Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai, please," Mihoshi replied, an embarrassed blush rising in her cheeks. "Thank you, Yukinojo."

"And it must be as secure a connection as possible," Aeka added.

The ship nodded. "Just a moment."

Aeka took a moment to glance down at Sasami, who was wringing out one of her long pigtails with a resigned expression. Mihoshi's transfer, as usual, had taken them through the lake—they were all soaked and dripping as a result, though Aeka managed to maintain some of her dignity while wringing out her own robes. "Really, Mihoshi, you must learn how to use that cube properly."

"I'm sorry, Aeka," Mihoshi mumbled, handing the princesses two towels that were draped over the back of the pilot seat, and patting herself down with a third.

Sasami smiled at her. "It's okay, Mihoshi. It must be difficult, learning to use something so complicated like that!"

Mihoshi giggled. "Yeah, I guess it is difficult…"

Yukinojo interrupted with a polite cough. "Connection established," he intoned, and the comm screen popped up with a crackle of static. Quickly the static took shape into a face—the deceptively serene expression of the Devil Princess of Jurai.

"Aeka dear! And my little Sasami. Whatever brings you to me on such a secretive channel?"

"Grandmother," Aeka murmured, gathering her thoughts. "There's been…an incident."


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets, Lovers and Lies

I know I said this next chapter would be up a long time ago, but sometimes life is unpredictable when you have three jobs and a part-time voluntary position. Sorry it took me so long! I've already started working on the next chapter, but this time I'm not making any estimates as to how long it will take before I can post it.

Anyway, thanks for being patient, I hope this chapter is sufficiently mysterious and delightful to warrant the time it took! I don't have a beta reader, so if you read this and notice any plot inconsistencies or anything, please comment and let me know! I changed a lot of small details in this chapter lately, and I'm always afraid I missed something that should have been adjusted. ;)

So without further ado, enjoy!

~o~o~o~

Chapter 3 – Secrets, Lovers and Lies

Tenchi looked from Washu to Ryoko, registering the pirate's unhappy expression, and suddenly he understood.

"Oh…the gems?" He lifted Tenchi-ken questioningly, and Washu nodded.

"The sword should work just as well without them, and your real power is internal, anyway. Ryoko, on the other hand, needs physical access to the gems to reach full potential." Ryoko's scowl deepened, but Washu held up a hand to cut her off. "Don't take offense, it's the truth. You're powerful on your own, there's no denying that, but the gems are your real inheritance."

The pirate sighed, still uncertain, but met Tenchi's questioning eyes and nodded. "All right, let's get this over with."

_Good girl_, Washu thought to her with a smile, and Ryoko mentally snarled in her direction.

_I'm not a dog_. _Now get out of my head, I need to concentrate._

Washu chuckled softly, a tense sound, and looped her arm through Katsuhito's. He looked down at her with an eyebrow raised, and she drew him away into the lab. "They can handle the transfer themselves…I want your opinion on some of these readings I got from Noike."

"All right," he agreed mildly, and let himself be led to the lab; the storage unit clicked shut behind him, leaving Tenchi and Ryoko in the living room alone.

They stared at each other for a moment, awkwardly, and Tenchi scrubbed a hand over the back of his head with a little smile. "Ryoko…I'm sorry I didn't think of this sooner. Washu's right, the gems were yours to begin with, and I've been keeping them from you."

The pirate shook her head. "No…if I'd wanted them back, I would have said something. I know you probably have a hard time imagining me in my pirate days, but…if I'd had all three gems when Kagato showed up last year…." She stopped, her breath fast and angry. "I don't really think it's a good idea to have all three now, either, but Washu says she can make it so Kagato can't control me anymore."

"Well…that's encouraging," Tenchi replied, uncertain. He'd seen Ryoko angry a million times before—but the woman standing in front of him didn't quite look like that. He met her eyes, and suddenly saw the difference. _She's afraid, _he realized with a start. _Afraid…she'll hurt us? Or that we'll all see what she used to be?_ He tucked the Tenchi-ken into the waist of his pants and stepped toward her, taking her hands in his on impulse. Ryoko, caught off-guard, pulled back—but not out of reach, and he squeezed her fingers gently. "We need you, Ryoko. I need you. I can't protect our family without you."

Her face twisted suddenly, and then relaxed. "You really mean that? You're not worried?"

Tenchi chuckled. "Well, there's plenty to be worried about right now. But you turning on us is not something I worry about. Not something I've ever worried about." He paused. "Well, maybe I worried when I came home and found you in my bed after you blew up the school. But I didn't really know you then."

Ryoko laughed softly, her tense frame relaxing; she laced her fingers through his, her eyes sliding closed. "All right. Then I'll trust you, Tenchi."

He smiled, and closed his eyes too. "We'll trust each other. I know everything will work out." They fell silent, Ryoko calling carefully to her gems, Tenchi praying calmly to return them, and he could feel the heat they gave off as they started to glow tucked against his side. This time felt different from before, somehow; he wondered if it was the physical contact between them now that made him feel the gems' presence more powerfully. Then Ryoko's fingers tightened around his, and he felt the heat source shift. It was her body throwing off heat now, he could feel it radiating off her like the sun in the fields. He stepped closer without really meaning to, drawn, and opened his eyes.

Her face was very close to his now, her eyes also open, and a hundred different thoughts seemed to flicker across them as he watched. They stood frozen for a moment, caught, and then she wrapped her arms around him, and he didn't pull away. The gems in her wrists made little burning points against his back, and the one in her throat cast a reddish glow over their faces. Everything else faded away, everything except her face, her half-lidded eyes and her mouth slightly open. Another few inches and he could kiss her; another few inches and he _would_. The thought startled him, but then she breathed his name, and he was caught again. He closed the gap between them with his eyes still open and locked on hers.

_Why would anyone ever kiss with their eyes closed?_ he wondered helplessly, and then any other thoughts got lost in the surprising gentleness of her mouth. The moment seemed to stretch on and on, and then he suddenly registered her eyes change, widening, and a surge of power through her limbs and across her skin where they touched. The gems flared hotter all at once, and then he couldn't see her eyes anymore, he couldn't see anything around him; he could smell burning and fire and blood, and suddenly he was on Ryo-ohki's bridge, locked in battle.

_On the viewscreen he can see the destruction he'd only smelled a moment ago; trees and ships and people, broken and scattered across the scarred landscape. _Jurai?_ And a ship, a familiar ship, exchanging fire with Ryo-ohki…and then a voice he knows, and a face, twisted with rage._

"_That garden was a special place for my brother and I!" Aeka's screaming. She's different, a little younger, and fiercer than he's ever seen. "I will never forgive you, pirate! I'll bring you down myself!!"_

_Then the light-hawk wings spread out across the ship, just as they had the time he'd controlled them. _She's going to fire!_ he realizes suddenly, and then for some reason he starts to laugh—but it isn't his laugh, it's Ryoko's. "Return fire, Ryo-ohki!" he and Ryoko cry, and the blast hits Ryu-oh dead center. He hears Aeka scream through the comm link, and then everything explodes into bright, blinding pieces._

Tenchi blinked hard, trying to clear the strange vision from his eyes, and stumbled backwards against the back of the couch. When his eyes cleared, Ryoko was standing stock still on the other side of the room, tensed to run, her eyes wide and frightened. "Te…Tenchi?"

"Ryoko…" he straightened, still trying to gather his wits about him. "What…what happened? Was that really Aeka?"

Then the storage unit door flew open and Washu appeared, face pale and eyes flashing. "Ryoko? Are you all right? What's going on?"

Shaking her head slowly, the pirate took a step back and was gone.

~o~o~o~

The Devil Princess of Jurai slipped out unnoticed the moment the transmission ended; her faithful Mikagami was always prepared for travel, and anything she might need would be aboard or could be acquired when she arrived on Earth. She understood the need for secrecy—knowing Funaho and Misaki, not to mention Azuza, a Juraian military circus on Earth would be inevitable if they got wind of the current crisis. No—Lady Washu's judgment was sound, this would have to be a secretive trip. _Lucky I'm prone to secret trips_, Seto thought to herself, slipping into the secluded docking bay where Mikagami was waiting. _Nobody will dare question or follow unless I send word._

Aboard her ship Seto felt a little bit more at ease; traveling to Earth would take time, but knowing she was en route to Noike's side made the whole affair more bearable. "All right, my friend," she murmured to the ship, trying to gather her thoughts as she stood on the bridge. "Set a course for Earth. We need to travel unnoticed, and with all possible speed." Seto felt the tree-ship's acknowledgment, not any sound but more of a sense that tingled along her limbs, and she couldn't help but smile. "I'll be in the onsen, Mikagami. Inform me of any communications or new developments."

The click of her shoes along the corridors leading to the ship's onsen echoed strangely; except for the most secretive and urgent of journeys, like this one, Seto traveled with bodyguards and ladies-in-waiting and often with an auxiliary staff. To travel in the huge vessel alone was strange and just the littlest bit unsettling, no matter how many times she'd done it before. _A bath will ease my nerves,_ she thought to herself as she stepped into the changing room and began to shed her many layers of clothing. _I'll be no good to Noike if I arrive on Earth in a panic._

Later, stretched out in the hot water, Seto let her mind drift more lazily over her worries. The situation was complex and delicate; she knew Kagato's criminal history as well as anyone who had lived through Ryoko's pirate days did, and she remembered that Kagato had been Washu's student and assistant before he kidnapped her. Still, she knew there had to be more to it than just what she'd heard in palace rumors or learned from her spies. _This whole thing is like a puzzle_, she thought, folding her arms behind her head. _The corner pieces are easy to see…but the middle is all one big jumble. Perhaps Lady Washu will be able to shed more light on the situation when I arrive._

Mikagami, always attuned to Seto's needs, was piping gentle music into the onsen—a complex instrumental piece from a small planet that used to be considered the wild frontier of Juraian-held space. It had no name back then, only a serial designation; it was a stopover planet, a refueling station and a haven for pirates and scofflaws of all kinds. There were also legally sanctioned treasure-hunters, frequently coming and going in search of riches, some of whom made more permanent camp there. Of the largest treasure-hunter settlement, only a few people remained—among them, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai.

The planet had changed drastically in the thousands of years since—cleaned up, repopulated with loyal Juraian subjects who wanted a taste of frontier living—and it was from the contemporary society there that the complex music came. Seto liked it, though sometimes she felt she shouldn't. It reminded her of herself; civilized, layered, beautiful…colonized, cleaned up. She used to wonder what music had been like on the planet before the pirate raid that destroyed its adventurous inhabitants; she had no memory that far back. Her oldest memory was of waking inside a force field, while the man who would become her father called to her worriedly from outside of it.

She'd been told what had happened, of course; shots fired from a pirate vessel accidentally agitated a hidden colony of Masu that had spread unnoticed in underground rivers below the planet's surface. The Masu's destructive power vaporized everything in a five hundred mile radius—everything except Seto, inside the only forcefield that withstood the blast. Not even she really knew where it had come from, or how she'd gotten inside it, and at the time it hadn't seemed to matter; she had a new father, a new family, a new life as royalty of the most powerful nation in space. As an orphaned amnesiac little girl, she couldn't have asked for more.

She sometimes had dreams, though. Dreams of a tall woman with silver hair and a low, urgent voice. A woman who lifted her up with a frightened and frightening expression, a face with too many eyes. A woman who held her and ran. There were other strange dreams, too, dreams that somehow didn't feel like they belonged to Seto, but then why or how would she be dreaming them? Another tall woman, red-haired; a lab filled with huge tubes and tanks and blinking lights. Once she'd ventured closer to peer into the water-filled containers and she'd regretted it, woken up screaming, still seeing shapes behind her eyes of long-limbed bodies and little curled fetuses. As a young woman she'd started taking sleeping draughts to quell the dreams on the advice of the royal physician, and she continued to take one every night to put her mind at ease; now though, in the soothing warmth of the onsen water, Seto began to drowse. Then the Devil Princess began to dream.

~o~o~o~

Given the way Washu had cursed and run from the room without any provocation that Katsuhito could see, the priest assumed something had happened with the transfer of Ryoko's gems; he even had an inkling as to what it might be. At the very least, any old memories the gems' return dredged up in the pirate would be unpleasant ones. He frowned a little, thinking of the battle that could be ahead of them, and sank into a chair by the forcefield that held Noike captive.

Inside the field, the woman looked as though she were asleep and fitfully dreaming. The struggle, he knew, was for control; soon Kagato's essence would gain possession of Noike's body, and he would wake. Katsuhito reached out to touch the field with the tips of his fingers, and it sparked a little at the contact. It wouldn't hold long, once Kagato had full use of a body again, a body essentially the same as the one Tenchi had destroyed. Washu knew it too, he was sure; in fact, she probably knew much more than she was telling. He could only hope she'd divulge her secrets soon, when they'd still be of some use. Noike murmured something unintelligible, her head twisting toward him with eyes still closed, and he sighed softly. The old priest image fell away, and young Yosho leaned closer to the field. "I can't help but wonder if there's more than chance coming into play here. I think there are other hands at work, pulling strings…."

"Well, of course there are." Yosho turned, startled, pulling his old man disguise around him again. Washu cocked her head a little and smiled tiredly at him. "I've no doubt we can thank my sister Tokimi for more scheming and dabbling than just that incident with Z. But some of it's my own fault, too." She turned her face away then, watching Noike with a carefully neutral expression. "You would think it would be rewarding to live so long, and see the fruits of your labors so far down the line. Except you also have to see the endless chain of troubles caused by your mistakes."

Katsuhito regarded her silently for a moment, then glanced over at the door. "What happened out there?"

"Oh, my daughter got spooked and ran off. Tenchi wanted to go look for her, but I told him we'd need him here; Mihoshi and Sasami went after her." She sighed, bringing up her computer and checking the latest readings on Noike and the forcefield's strength. "Kids these days, always flying off the handle. I hope they find her before this shield fails."

"You can't sense her?"

"No, she's shut me out. She sure picked a hell of a moment to want to be alone." The scientist's fingers flew over her keyboard even as she spoke, processing the data and running scenarios. Katsuhito chuckled.

"Perhaps she inherited your sense of dramatic timing."

Washu smacked him in the back of the head without missing a beat.

~o~o~o~

"Ryooooookooooooo!"

"Ryoko-neechan, where are you?"

"Come back, Ryoko!" Mihoshi paused, searching the treetops for a hint of blue hair, and Sasami paused beside her and sighed.

"Maybe we should split up. I'll check with Yosho-niisan's tree, maybe she's been by there."

"Okay," Mihoshi agreed. "I'll try up at the cave. Be careful, Sasami."

"You too." The little girl rushed off in the direction of Funaho's pool, and Mihoshi began a swift ascent of the stairs to the shrine. She was out of breath by the time she was in sight of the cave, but there wasn't any need to call out—Ryoko was there, curled up at the mouth of it with her arms wrapped around her knees. Mihoshi watched her for a moment; something about the set of the pirate's shoulders told her Ryoko already knew she was there, so she walked quietly over to sit beside her.

"Um…Washu said that you should come back, so she can make that adjustment on you before the shield fails."

"Sure, that little adjustment that keeps me from killing everyone. Great."

"You couldn't kill everyone, Ryoko."

"Don't be ridiculous." Ryoko looked over at Mihoshi finally, the gem at her throat glowing softly. "Tenchi's the only one who'd even have a chance against me now, but he's still learning. He'd die just the same."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, I know you _could_ kill everyone, but you wouldn't."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have Kagato jerking you around like a puppet."

Mihoshi smiled. "Well, no, that's true. But you're stronger than he is, Ryoko, for sure! You're a goddess' daughter, you know."

Ryoko blinked and looked over at her, then grudgingly smiled a little, too. "Yeah…you've got a point there."

"And Kagato isn't even in the body he likes anymore," Mihoshi went on cheerfully. "And even that body wasn't his real body, Washu said he was a clone. So his real original body must be long gone."

"Well, I'm not sure I believe that. I mean, if he was a clone, you'd think I would know about it," Ryoko argued, her frame loosening as she started to relax. "I mean, if he was…then who was he a clone of?"

"Maybe you could ask Washu while she's fixing you."

Ryoko was about to shoot that idea down, then remembered the sudden intimacy between herself and her mother the night before, and nodded consideringly. "Maybe I could."

~o~o~o~

"So something in the transfer of the gems caused you to see Ryoko's memory?" Aeka asked, frowning a little suspiciously.

"Maybe we were connected for a moment through the gems' power," Tenchi fibbed, flushing. "Washu's the only one who knows how those things really work."

Aeka eyed him consideringly. "Connected through the gems' power? I'm not sure I like the sound of that." Then her expression softened a little. "What was the memory?"

"Well…I guess it must've been when Ryoko attacked Jurai," he replied hesitantly. "You were there in your ship, fighting."

"After she destroyed my garden," Aeka murmured softly. "Yes, we did exchange fire that day. I'm sorry you had to see that, Lord Tenchi."

"Well, I guess Ryoko is sorrier."

"I can see why she'd be upset. The rest of us have some memory of her old life, whether we fought with her or just heard the news…but she's worked hard to keep that from you, how vicious she used to be." There was just a touch of kindness in the princess' voice, and sadness too, and Tenchi nodded.

"I hope Sasami and Mihoshi can convince her to come home."

"I'm sure they—"

Aeka was thrown backwards by the force of the blast before she could finish her sentence, let alone bring up a shield. When her vision cleared, it took her a moment to register the scene before her, and she struggled to her feet. Half the living room was gone, covered in debris; the sofa had caught on fire and was slowly crackling. The door to Washu's lab was gone too, and in its place was a gaping hole into subspace. Silhouetted in the hole, Noike floated a few inches off the ground, a ball of energy pulsing in her upturned palm. Time seemed to freeze; Aeka registered her brother's form behind Noike, and Tenchi sprawled wide-eyed on the floor. Then all hell broke loose.

~o~o~o~

_Seto is not herself—she knows this in the way of dreams, but cannot see the face she's wearing this time. The crown of a tent curves above her head, enclosing her, but she can hear chaos outside, screaming and explosions. She's sitting at a comm station, waiting for it to connect, her body flooded with urgency._

"_I'm not in the lab right now," a cheerfully nasal voice intones. "Leave me a message and I'll be sure to get it soon!"_

"_Wa-chan!" Seto-not-Seto shouts. "There's been a raid—it's too close to the Masu colony, they'll hit it, and I can't get the damn subspace door open! As soon as you get this, try to open it on your end! I'm going to round up the settlement here so I can send them through!" She's about to hit the disconnect button when a blast hits very near, and she pauses. "I…I love you." _

_The connection fizzles out, and Seto-not-Seto gets to her feet, running outside. A barrage of fire continues from the pirate fleet as it descends from the atmosphere; she doesn't know what they're after, but it hardly matters. She knows, without knowing how she knows, that one wrong shot will blow a crater bigger than the Academy in the surface of the planet—and the settlement of Juraian treasure-hunters here will be destroyed. There are families in that camp, and children. She must get them out._

_As she reaches the settlement, though, she sees that it will be hopeless—the people have scattered, and many are already dead. A treasure-hunter ship some distance away is transporting a few stragglers aboard, then shoots into the sky overhead, firing fiercely on the pirates. She stands frozen for a moment, helpless, undone. Then she hears it—a sob, a child's voice crying out. She follows the sound to a little girl, pale and mint-haired. Seto suddenly recognizes the girl as herself, and moves forward as one with not-Seto to lift the child up into her arms. "Hold tight, little one, I'll get you out of here." Seto is desperate to save this image of herself; not-Seto is also desperate, and as she clutches the girl's tiny body against her breast, images fly through her head of other children with wild hair and bright smiles. A surge of pain pushes them forward, faster, toward the tent._

_Seto-not-Seto shoves the tent flap open, tries the subspace door set in one corner. She kicks it, shouts, screams. It will not open. Another barrage of shots outside sends her running out, still clutching the child, panicked; the world is suddenly blurred, and she looks down and realizes her pince nez glasses have fallen off. The ground begins to rumble, and then she knows—it's now or never. Any second, the colony of creatures beneath their feet will explode, vaporizing the landscape. She sets the child down, tears the forcefield generator from her belt. Pressing it into the sobbing girl's hand, she hits the button, and the field sizzles into life just as the ground breaks open and the world disintegrates._

_The scene changes abruptly; Seto is entirely herself now, but small, and frightened. She is stuck where she stands, inside a forcefield just large enough for a grown woman to stand up in, and she can barely see outside it for the dust. Spreading out on either side of her, a huge crater has been gouged out of the earth like ice cream in a scooper, and everything that surrounded her before is gone. Seto knows this view well—it's her earliest memory. A knocking on the forcefield confirms it, and a hand wipes a hole in the dust. A face appears—her adoptive father Ushio, a treasure hunter and a royal of Jurai's Kamiki house. Somehow the forcefield is shut down; Ushio cradles her gently against his chest, and as they walk away, Seto looks over Ushio's shoulder, watching the spot where the shield had been. They are a good distance away when a door suddenly opens in the air, where the tall silver-haired lady's tent had been, and a woman staggers through._

"_Naja!" the woman calls, then is frozen by the sight of the destruction. She takes a few steps forward, toward the tiny shield generator lying abandoned on the ground. She slides to her knees, touches the generator, then picks up a tiny object that glints in the sunlight. She stares at it, then looks around wildly; magenta hair comes loose from her hat, exploding around her head in all directions. "Naja!" she calls again, getting to her feet. Met with silence, she starts to scream. "NAJA! NAJA!!"_

A familiar tingle along her limbs brought Seto back to the present. She sat up sharply, water splashing around her, and put a hand to her woozy aching head. "Mikagami?"

With the tingle came the knowledge that the ship had entered the Solar system, and also the gentlest sort of mental embrace—the tree had seen her dream. "Thank you, Mikagami. I'll be on the bridge shortly."

Seto leaned back in the water for a moment, letting her surroundings settle in, still rocked by the dream. _That woman, with the red hair—I never recognized her before. Washu._ The idea was mind-blowing. For much of her life, Seto had looked for answers about what happened that day. To discover, thousands of years later, that Lady Washu was there…. _I must ask her about it, when I arrive. And I must remember not to fall asleep in the bath in the future._

~o~o~o~

Ryoko and Mihoshi were walking down the stairs in surprisingly companionable conversation when the pirate pulled up short. Her skin went cold, and a sudden sick feeling twisted her stomach. Something was very, very wrong.

"Ryoko? Are you all right?"

The pirate didn't answer; she released the lock she'd put on her link with her mother, and was nearly knocked over with the force of Washu's mind. There were no actual words, just senses, feelings—fear, and physical pain, and above all, danger. Ryoko snarled. "It's happened. Mihoshi, find Sasami and keep her safe—we may need Tsunami as a last resort."

"Oh my! Oh my!" Mihoshi dashed off down the stairs, fumbling with her control cube as she ran. Ryoko, reluctant to teleport into the situation blind, flew down the stairs at high speed; she broke through the trees at the bottom with her energy sword already lit in her hand, her heart thumping faster as she heard the sounds of fighting in the house. Even from here she could see that the windows had been blown out, and the door was hanging open. It was the sight of her mother, though, that caught and held her attention.

Washu was struggling across the yard toward her as fast as she was able, but she held her hand pressed tight to her side and limped a little, her face white with pain. "You can't go in there yet," she shouted urgently over the chaos, and Ryoko touched down close to her, reaching out to hold the smaller woman up. "I have to deactivate the failsafe."

"Is Tenchi all right? Are you?" Ryoko asked worriedly as the scientist brought up her computer interface with a wave of one hand.

"He's holding his own, but I've got to get you in there as fast as I can. Hold still." When the scientist let go of her side to type two-handed, though, her fingers came away covered in blood.

"Shit, Washu, you're—"

"Hold still, I said! This is delicate work." Ryoko bit back the rest of her sentence, trying to slow the frantic thump of her heart; in the tense silence, Washu's eyes flickered across the screen and her fingers flew over the keys with urgent speed. "He's as strong as he ever was, Ryoko," the scientist said softly without looking up. "Noike's body is made of the same stuff as his old one—and the same stuff as yours."

"What? I never knew that…"

"There are a lot of things I should explain to you when this is all over. Ah! There, I got it, go!" Ryoko hesitated just a moment, her eyes flitting from the wound in Washu's side, steadily seeping blood, to her pained expression. "Go on, Ryoko, I'll be fine!"

The pirate hesitated only a moment more. Then with a swift tug she pulled the little red gem off the earring she wore and pressed it into Washu's hand. "It's not a real one, but…"

Washu shot her a strained smile, and stretched up to kiss her cheek. "It'll do. Hold him off as long as you can, divine intervention's on its way."

Ryoko smiled back, small and tight, and shot through the front door with a battlecry already on her lips.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

That's it for this chapter—thoughts, questions, and constructive reviews are always welcome!


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